Mesothelioma Causes

The exact method by which asbestos causes mesothelioma isn’t known with certainty. Animal models have provided some understanding of the type of damage that asbestos fibers can do, but the exact mechanism hasn’t been found yet. After asbestos became a commercially successful product, it was soon apparent that asbestos workers were an at-risk population.

Starting at the turn of the century, British investigators discovered a relationship between exposure to high levels of asbestos and respiratory disease. These early studies were often suppressed by government at the request of the asbestos industry. By the mid 50’s American medical researchers had joined the chorus of concerned professionals identifying asbestos as hazardous. Much of their work was never published or was suppressed and/or disputed by scientists in the pay of the asbestos lobby.

Asbestos fibers have been detected in many resected surgical specimens from mesothelioma patients. In pleural mesothelioma, asbestos fibers are found trapped in the tissues from the lower parts of the lung and they are sometimes concentrated into nodules or spots on the parietal pleura, the primary location for mesothelioma in the thoracic cavity. Although smoking while exposed to asbestos is known to significantly increase lung cancer risks, smoking does not appear to be implicated in the formation of mesothelioma.

Genetic susceptibility may also contribute to the cause of malignant mesothelioma. Two population of two small villages located in Turkey has been environmentally exposed to a rare asbestos-like fiber called erionite for generations.

Amphiboles Protruding

In an initial study, 50% of the men in one village contracted malignant mesothelioma while the other village had only one case. This was a woman who was originally from the first village. Further research into the residents of these two communities has confirmed an inheritable genetic predisposition to malignant mesothelioma in the presence of asbestos-like fibers.

Current research has repeatedly found abnormalities in mesothelioma cases where deletions of chromosome regions 1p, 3p, 9p, and 6p, and the loss of chromosome 22 have been observed. It is believed that these deletions affect tumor suppressor genes, allowing for the development of mesothelioma.

Asbestos is a major known cause

Studies show that asbestos is a major cause of mesothelioma. By various estimates, it accounts for about 75–80% of all mesothelioma cases in the United States. Asbestos is a mineral that occurs as a long, thin fiber in the environment. Before its usage was banned due to health dangersin the 1980s, it was used in many industrial and insulation materials as a fire retardant. Some of the jobs in which people have been exposed to asbestos directly or indirectly are those that involve factory work, demolition, insulation, shipbuilding, carpentry, and installation of brake linings in vehicles.

Despite rigorous efforts to eliminate asbestos from our environment, some public and private buildings still contain asbestos. Personnel who remove asbestos from such structures or work around asbestos are required to wear personal protective equipment to lower their risk of exposure.

Asbestos fibers may be inhaled and become lodged in the lungs, which can cause damage. If swallowed, asbestos may lead to peritoneal mesothelioma. Scientists are still researching exactly how asbestos fibers cause mesothelioma. It may be by a direct action on the cells of the body or by forming substances that affect genes in the body.

There may be other causes

Although asbestos is the major cause of mesothelioma, up to 30–50% of all cases are not obviously related to prior asbestos exposure. Other possible causes include prior exposure to radiation or to certain minerals closely related to asbestos that are found in the soil. Smoking has not been shown to be a cause of mesothelioma. However, if a smoker has also been exposed to asbestos, this greatly increases his or her risk of developing other types of lung cancer.